A project matching new farmers with available farmland in Metro Vancouver received $25,000 in funding earlier this month from the federal and British Columbia governments.
The Young Agrarians is leading the pilot project in partnership with the Farm Folk City Folk Society.
“The land matching program is based on a model in Quebec that’s been doing land matching for about seven years now,” said Darcy Smith, the land matcher with Young Agrarians.
The project in Metro Vancouver helps to build on the success of a two year pilot project that was in partnership with the City of Surrey and in collaboration with Quebec’s L’Arterre.
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“This will be the third year of the land matching program,” Smith said.
“We did an initial two year pilot in the Lower Mainland in partnership with the City of Surrey, and the ministry funding for 2018 will help us continue the pilot end of the project in the Lower Mainland, which is great news. We are thrilled that the ministry of agriculture is supportive,” said Smith.
The methodology the land matching program uses is based on the model by L’Arterre.
Smith said it’s a personalized, hands-on matchmaking service that made five matches in its first year.
“For the program, with the model we’re working with, it’s quality over quantity, so … we were thrilled to see five matches. We’ve currently got another five matches in negotiations.”
Due to its partnership with the City of Surrey, the outreach had been focused in that municipality.
One of the matches made was between farmer Roger Woo and landowner David Feldhaus. Woo, a former chef, was matched with Feldhaus, who was searching to expand agricultural activity on his farmland.
Smith screens both farmers and landowners as part of the land matching program.
“Once I have accepted landowners and farmers seeking land into the program, I match them based on a combination of the practical needs of the land opportunity and the farm project, as well as the less tangible things like shared vision, shared communication styles,” Smith said.
Smith helps facilitate meetings and discussions between the farmers and landowners.
“Once we have the format, the content, the framework for an agreement ready and everyone’s happy with it, we have a lawyer, a legal partner that we work with who drafts the agreement into a formal lease,” Smith said.
“That lawyer is neutral and is just looking at a legally valid agreement rather than advocating for either side.”
The land-matching project in Metro Vancouver is supported through Growing Forward 2.
“My mandate includes getting more young people farming, and making sure that they have the land to farm on through projects like the Metro Vancouver land-matching project is an essential first step,” B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, the B.C. minister of agriculture, said in a news release.
“Part of why we established Grow BC was to help young farmers access land. I believe strongly that agriculture has the potential to unlock prosperity throughout our entire province, and we need farmland and farmers to make that happen.”
